The cult of Julia Child endures nearly a half-century after she first hacked her way into our hearts.

“You must have the courage of your convictions,” she once told viewers while embarking upon a seemingly daunting kitchen task. And watching her, you did.

Child was not one to bow to adversity. She forged ahead with her culinary studies at Le Cordon Bleu cooking school though told she had “no natural talent” by its director. She published the 734-page “Mastering the Art of French Cooking” in 1961 despite multiple rejections. And she became a TV icon — filming 119 episodes of “The French Chef” — her gawky 6-foot-2 frame and oft-spoofed voice, notwithstanding.

No wonder film critics left previews of “Julie & Julia,” which opens tomorrow, lamenting the lack of screen time with Meryl Streep channeling her inner Child.

“She’s just one of those people who reinforces in all of us that you can really do whatever it is that you want to do,” says Laurie Donnelly, producer of “Julia Child Memories: Bon Appetit!,” airing tonight at 7:30 p.m. on WLIW, Channel 21.

“A lot of times, in the desire to make perfect television that’s beautiful and well-orchestrated, it can be intimidating. I think what you felt from Julia is that it was OK to make mistakes.”

After fumbling a potato pancake onto the stovetop, Child confides to viewers, “You can always pick it up when you’re alone in the kitchen — who is going to see?” Can you imagine those words coming out of Martha Stewart’s mouth? Child, a Pasadena-born blue blood, was as unpretentious as they come.

“In a world full of phonies and people who just thrive on their celebrity status, it’s so refreshing to see someone who was totally nonplussed by it all,” says Russell Morash, the producer of “The French Chef.”

But most importantly, she could cook — and her recipes worked.

In the second volume of “French Cooking,” she reportedly went through 284 pounds of flour before nailing her recipe for French bread.

“Her approach to cooking was very interesting because it was very open and enthusiastic and very American — and at the same time very structured and organized and classic as we do in France,” says celebrated chef Jacques Pépin, a longtime friend and frequent Child collaborator.

And her irreverence was contagious — to the point that some viewers thought she must be drunk. “Much is made of her drinking, but she would only drink on the set those wines and accents that she was using in the actual recipe — and not until it had been turned into something,” says Morash. “It was more apocryphal than it was true, but it makes good copy.”